Oval should celebrate HRM, not Emera

A group called Solidarity Halifax is critical of HRM's decision to name the skating oval after Emera. (INGRID BULMER / Staff)

The skating oval is a public facility enjoyed by many in Halifax Regional Municipality. The story behind the naming of the oval, however, is an embarrassment.

Our city belongs to the people who live, work and play here. Names of spaces in cities are forever linked to the culture of a place, and buildings and facilities in our city should be named for prominent residents or communities. Naming the oval is an opportunity to respect and preserve a piece of local history for years to come, and instead, we sold the naming rights at a bargain to a private corporation. Even when considering private sponsorship, we must recognize that the city could choose to reserve the right to name facilities for itself.

Instead, HRM named the oval after Emera, which makes over $120 million in profit each year from the power bills of Nova Scotians. Despite Emera’s record profits, power rates went up again this year: We have some of the highest power rates in Canada, and many Nova Scotians struggle to pay for the rising costs of for-profit electricity.

The idea of sponsorship is that if you pay for something, you share in the credit. However, Emera paid for less than 10 per cent of the cost of the oval. HRM spent millions of dollars of public money to build the oval, and pays hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for maintenance. This is a public recreation facility, paid for mostly by public dollars.

The deal is so one-sided, the city is essentially subsidizing Emera’s advertising. The average billboard in downtown Halifax costs well over $10,000 a year. For $50,000 a year, Emera gets over 30 signs and flags, gets its name on city materials and websites, and gets advertising every time the oval is mentioned in media coverage. All guaranteed for 10 years at the same price.

And what a corporation to choose! Since Nova Scotia Power was privatized in 1992, it has made more than $2 billion in profits off the power bills of Nova Scotians. This is the company that laid off teams of workers to preserve profits, that still cuts off families’ power in the middle of winter, that forces Nova Scotians to choose between buying food and paying for power, and that has let the electrical grid deteriorate to the point where we blame power outages on salt in the air. Emera is not the name we should celebrate when naming our public facilities.

It is clear that returning Nova Scotia Power to democratic, public ownership is the way forward. Under public ownership, Nova Scotians could choose their own energy future, and start to consider electricity a right and a basic necessity, instead of something to profit from. The over $100 million that leaves the province every year as profit would stay here to be used for the benefit of residents. We could start to move away from coal power and increase efficiency — something that a private company, charging per unit of electricity, has no incentive to do. We could make decisions for the best interests of our residents, instead of the interests of private shareholders.

This naming process was a chance for the mayor and council to show courage and choose a name that reflects and celebrates local history and the residents of HRM. If they won’t step up, the public will choose a name in a contest hosted by Solidarity Halifax, a process that should have happened in the first place.

Dozens of nominations have been received, and voting will be open until March 7. To learn more about the contest, read about the final nominations on the ballot, or cast a vote, visit www.solidarityhalifax.ca/power.